


You sure?

by CynicalMistrust



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Drabble, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21726763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynicalMistrust/pseuds/CynicalMistrust
Summary: He still wasn’t used to that.Healing.It was too slow a process. And while he didn’t mind pain, there was a vast difference between a brief, intense pain that healed almost instantly, and the continuous annoyance of mild discomfort.The lack of the whispering voice telling him to burn, burn,burn, was strange, too. He’d forgotten what it was like to have only his own thoughts in his head. To have only his own emotions. His own desires.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79





	You sure?

Lio sat at the desk of the room he’d been set up with in the BRHQ. Arms crossed. Cheek resting on top of them as he watched the flame of his candle. Clementine scented. A gift from Aina.

It’d only been a few weeks since the Promare vanished. The world was already changing, reverting to older prejudices. “Society” would always need someone to hate, to grind beneath the heel of the mass population. To bear the brunt of people’s frustration at their inability to make a better life for themselves. 

He should have been grateful that burden was no longer his, but it wasn’t like he ever minded. Being the leader of Mad Burnish had given him purpose. Something to live for. People to save. 

Now…

Now, he was just a fifty year old soul stuck in a twenty year old body that was aging again. 

Heris had run a million tests, drawing blood enough times he was sure his arm would never heal. 

He still wasn’t used to that. 

Healing.

It was too slow a process. And while he didn’t mind pain, there was a vast difference between a brief, intense pain that healed almost instantly, and the continuous annoyance of mild discomfort. 

The lack of the whispering voice telling him to burn, burn,  _ burn,  _ was strange, too. He’d forgotten what it was like to have only his own thoughts in his head. To have only his own emotions. His own desires. 

After thirty years of hiding and fighting and burning, burning,  _ burning,  _ he wasn’t even sure what he wanted anymore. 

It wasn’t like there was a place for him anywhere. Not anymore. Even if the Burnish were gone, and even if they’d all been pardoned in light of the truth and the aftermath of what Kray had done, there were still those who hated him for what he’d been. 

He lifted his hand and held it over the flame of the candle. Bright orange, so unlike the flames of the Promare. 

It was warm, and grew hotter as he slowly lowered his hand over it. He dragged his finger through the flickering flame, staring at the grey soot left behind on his skin. 

He hated it. He hated not having that power, the freedom to create things from flames. The ability to continuously regenerate his body and health. 

He’d fought for so long to protect the others, knowing he’d likely die as one, or from one, of Kray’s experiments that the thought of dying from something as mundane as  _ illness  _ was too much. 

Footsteps stopped outside his door, followed by three knocks. Too loud to be Heris. Too quick to be Aina. 

He sighed softly and closed his eyes, not in the mood to deal with Galo at the moment. 

“Oiii! I know you’re in there, open up!”

Maybe if he was quiet, the idiot would go away. 

More knocks followed, hard enough Lio was sure the door would break under the onslaught. “OIII!” 

Lio growled and shoved to his feet, stalking to the door and waiting for the start of the next pounding to throw the door open. He wasn’t disappointed in the least as Galo stumbled into the room, catching his balance just long enough to turn and land on his ass. 

“What?” Lio asked, crossing his arms and not bothering to suppress the faint smirk as he stared down at Galo. 

Galo glared up at him. “I came to get you for dinner.”

“Not hungry.”   
  
The idiot frowned, crossing his legs instead of getting up and leaving. “That’s what you said at lunch.”

“And I’m still not hungry.”

“Okay…” Galo glanced around the room, his attention landing on the candle. 

Lio tensed, his fingers digging into his arms as he braced himself for a hissy fit. Honestly, Galo’s aversion to any kind of fire grated on his nerves, but apparently he’d calmed a bit since they literally set the world on fire. From what he’d overheard from the others, anyway. 

Several long moments of silence ticked by, before Galo finally tilted his head, side-eying Lio. “You miss it?”

“What?” Lio asked, more surprised by the calm question than the insight. 

Galo shrugged, flicking his fingers towards the candle. “The Promare. The flames and… everything,” he said with another shrug. He braced his hands on his knees before pushing to his feet. “C’mon. I’m starving.”

Lio waited until Galo stepped out of his room before responding. He tore his gaze away from the candle, staring at the floor and Galo’s boots. “I miss it,” he said quietly, hating himself for admitting to that, but there wasn’t any point in denying it. 

He hated being  _ weak.  _ And  _ vulnerable.  _ And  _ alone.  _

“Yeah… I probably would, too,” Galo replied, glancing over his shoulder. “Your flames felt pretty great.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You hate fire.”

“I hate the destruction they cause.” Galo looked away, but not before Lio caught the faint hint of pink on his cheeks. “Yours were… kind. Even after what Kray did… What everyone did to you guys.” He rubbed at the back of his head with a soft groan of frustration. “I’m just saying, I didn’t mind your flames.”

Was that Galo’s way of hitting on him? “I see…” He pushed away from the door, leaning over to blow out the candle before stepping out of his room. “Is that why you were so eager to kiss me?” he asked, slipping his hands into his pockets as he headed to the elevator. He smirked as Galo spluttered behind him.

“I didn’t fucking kiss you! I was saving your life!” 

“You sure?”

Galo grumbled under his breath and stalked into the elevator beside him, slumping into the corner with his arms crossed. They were almost the same height when he stood like that. “It’s not like you’d want me kissing you,” he said under his breath.

Lio almost smiled as the doors slid shut. “You sure?”


End file.
